


Help Some, Hurt Some.

by WinterLilacs



Series: Shitty Parents. Good Siblings [2]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: But he's still a dumb kid, Edric's trying his best to be a good brother, F/M, Forced Outing, Gen, Referenced Abusive Parents, Trans Amity, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Viney
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26120098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterLilacs/pseuds/WinterLilacs
Summary: When Amity comes in questioning Edric's knowledge on trans topics, Edric comes clean about things that may not have been his place to come clean about.
Relationships: Edric Blight/Viney
Series: Shitty Parents. Good Siblings [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1896541
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	Help Some, Hurt Some.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, all! Really enjoying writing these fics. So I decided to make a series!
> 
> Content Warnings:Referenced abusive parents. Forced outing. Indirect misgendering.
> 
> If you have any thoughts on the series, please let me know!

“Hey, Edric?” 

Twisting at the sound of his younger brother opening the door, Edric tried to keep the smile from getting a reason to ignore schoolwork off his face as quickly as possible. 

“‘Sup, Amity?” Emira was gone. Taken on a trip with their parents to help perform in front of some blah-blah-blah. Emric and Amity both forgot pretty quickly what it actually was. Wasn’t their butt in the fire.

Closing the door, as if terrified of their parents could somehow overhear the conversation that was about to go down from miles away, Amity pulled down his hood.

“Oooooh, the hair’s lookin’ great! Really growing out. We’ll look identical soon enough.”

  
  
“You don’t have to lie to me, Edric.” The anxiety and panic filled Amity from a week ago was gone. The one they found out in the rain on the library entrance. Their parent’s grounding Amity for a month gave her time to calm. A grounding that happened against Emira and Edric’s protests that it was, in Emira’s words, _“Absolute Ballisk Shit!”_ That only succeeded in getting Emira a week’s grounding for her words. Along with being dragged to every painful function.

Suffice to say, Edric learned to shut his mouth before he received the same.

“I’m not lying-”

  
  
“Yeah, you are.” Taking a stool, Amity quietly sat down on it. “I know you mean well. But telling me all these fancy lies about me _looking like a boy_ doesn’t do much when everyone at school just thinks I’m a girl with a dumb hairdo.”

  
  
“Amity…..” Moving forward from his own seat, Edric went to put a consoling hand on his younger brother’s shoulder. Only for Amity to jerk away.

“I’m not here for you to comfort me. I just…...I just need to ask you something.”

  
  
Quirking an eyebrow in turn at this, Edric allowed himself to fall back on his seat.

“I’m an open book, bro. Ask away.”

“Don’t think you’re smart enough to be a book.” The first smile of Amity since coming into Edric’s room.

  
  
“Easy, Mittens. I can switch from cool big bro to bully big bro like _*snap*_ that.” A wry smile accompanied Edric’s snapping finger.

“So, what’s eating you?”  
  


“Besides crippling gender dysphoria, constant misgendering and bad parents?”

  
  
“Yes, besides the usual.” A brief laugh shared between the two of them. Neither liked to linger on the last part for long.

“How did you know?”

  
  
Edric could only respond with sparse blinks.

  
  
“How did I know……?” An eye-roll from Amity rewarded Edric’s confusion.

“That night, you knew everything to say. All the right words. I know for damn sure that mom and dad didn’t teach you that. And Emira was a gaping carp about it. So, how did you know?”

A few thoughts ran through Edric’s head.

_I could lie. Easy._

_I could backflip through the secret hatch in the floor. Oh, shoot. Not getting that installed till next week._

_I could tell him the truth…..I’m gonna tell him the truth, aren’t I?_

Edric knew very well what to do.

“OK, OK. What I’m about to say doesn’t leave this room. No-one hears it. Not Luce. Not Willow. Not even Emira. Not a soul. Got it?”  
  
A nod from Amity. 

Rubbing the back of his neck, Edric could already feel the sweat beginning to form on his brow. Was this the right move? He didn’t even check with Viney if it was OK to tell others. They don’t even know about her. Could mess everything up.

But when Edric looked towards Amity, he could only see his little brother hurting. Feeling alone. And no matter how much Edric and Emira tried, they wouldn’t ever be able to fully make that loneliness go away. Still, Edric knew a way he might be able to lessen it.

“You know the way I’ve been dating a girl. On the down-low. Down-low as in, mom and dad cannot know under any circumstance, down low?”

“Yeah, you sing her praises whenever to me and Emira whenever you can. Get’s a bit annoying to be honest.”

“The snark is not welcome, Amity.” This was a lie. The snark made Edric feel just a little bit less anxious. And he was thankful for that. Especially with what he was about to say next.

“The thing about her is….She’s like you. Not!-Not exactly like you. But like you’re a boy, she’s a girl. Get me?”  
  


Amity processed the information going through his head. Once it was done:

“Oooooooooooooh.”

  
  
“Yeah, yeah.” Thinking of Viney, Edric couldn’t help but grow a bit of a smile on his face. Could forget anything when he was with her. “Anyway, she’s been teaching me about this stuff. Giving me the _Transgender Track 101_.” The crooked smile that accompanied Edric’s face returned, beaming towards Amity at what he hoped would help make his little bro feel less alone.

“But, I didn’t know you were gay, Edric.”  
  
“That’s because I’m not, Amity.” Shaking his head, Edric stood up and walked over to his library. Barren barring a few comics that he begged and pleaded with his parents to let him have. Pulling back some of the bigger volumes, he pulled out a book tucked between the space between shelf and back wall.

“My girlfriend is just that. A girl. Ain’t nothing to do with how she might be different than other girls.” Walking over to his younger brother, Edric handed the book to him. “Here. You probably need this more than me.”

  
Looking down at the tome handed to him, Amity read across its title.

_Transgender Track 101._

“I thought you were joking when you said that.” A dry expression covered Amity’s face.

“It’s a good book. Taught me not to say dumb stuff like you did a second ago. Just…...Y’know. Make sure the overlords don’t find it.” Once more, the mirthless laugh at the reference to their parents came forth from Edric. Laughing, no matter how forced, helped. It’s what Edric told himself anyway.

Suddenly, to hands wrapped around Edric’s chest.

“Easy, little bro. Think we’ve filled our hug quota for the year.” Despite his protests, Edric didn’t resist and only reciprocated the hug. 

“And as much as I’d like to avoid it, gotta get on that _Mystical Mirrors_ work for Prof. Hector. So scram, little bro.”

Breaking the hug at the joking order, Amity held the book in front of his face once more.

“Thanks, Edric.” 

“Hey, I meant it. Me and Emira, we got your back. No matter what.”

“I’m going to go read this. Can probably finish it by the time the rest of the family get back.”  
  


“It took me a month to work through it.”

Amity was already turned and walking away.

“You never were the brightest candle in the chandelier.” The retort died quickly as it came when Amity halted walking. “But you’re a good big brother.”  
  


Amity leaving, Edric was left alone to his own devices.

“Yeah. Suppose I am a good brother.” Returning to his homework, Edric could not miss catching sight of the picture he only brought out when his parents weren’t home. Looking at the frame of his girlfriend, whom he just indirectly outed, Edric sighed.

“But I’m a crummy boyfriend.”


End file.
